The figure is not cut and dry. There are a lot of variables that contributes to the salary number. Location is one of the biggest, and the industry that the employer is in is another.
Petro companies pay a lot because the work the is hard, lots of times you get sent onto a rigs. Not many people wants to do that kind of work. Also, You can't exactly use an exception to establish the trend for the norm. $50k is pretty average for 60 percent of places in America, but definitely not low.
The best suggestion is to base your asking price on your fellow majors (the ones got offered already), this is an most accurate representation of what you can get because most variables will remain relatively equal such as location, skills and experiences, etc.
At the end, your starting salary does not matter much anyways. Most people jump ship after 2-5 years of their first job. As long as you don't disclose your salary on the first job, your 2nd employer cannot use it as a base figure. So don't worry about starting low, the right type of experience is much more valuable than salary on the first job.
Thanks for the input. I'm not interested in the big oil companies because I don't think it's best environment in which to learn (I interned this summer at a big company and didn't learn anything in 3 months).
I think this "starting salary doesn't matter because you'll leave your job soon anyway" argument doesn't always hold true. For example, I just accepted a job offer at a company that paid me a higher base salary/starting bonus, as compared to another company which gave me less money, but higher stock options. I was interning at the first company(ABC), and my boss knew I'd just interviewed at the second company(XYZ). So my "negotiation" consisted of "So, I got a job offer from XYZ". He immediately asked me what range I had gotten an offer in (we had discussed my joining ABC over lunches earlier, so we both knew there was mutual interest). So I gave him a range, and he got back to me in two days with a 5k higher base, and 15k in a starting bonus to make up the lack of options/stock (my company was acquired by an private equity firm, but should IPO out in a few years again).Both jobs had similar expected monetary values(risk discounted), and my decision came down to the fact that ABC offered a higher base salary. My group is growing, and the average age is fairly young, which means that I have opportunity to grow vs other companies where the average age/experience levels are higher. As all your raises, 401(k) matching etc. are based on base salary, if you stay for more than a few years, the differences can add up. Even if you leave a job, it's not uncommon (atleast in my field) for people to say "here is my base salary. I want 15-20% more" , which essentially allows you to carry your base salary over multiple jobs.
I guess a lot of this depends on your field. Negotiating (even implicit) can help you right out of college - (I ended up getting about 10k more than I expected going into the interviewing process).I work in a specialized field (Analog IC design, which is perennially searching for decent candidates), and focussed my last 2 years of undergrad mostly on this and related areas. I've also had significant intern experience in design, which makes me a good candidate in this area (conversely, it eliminates me from about 95% of EE jobs - i haven't written much code since my sophomore year). So when I join this company, I know there is a good chance that I may be here for 4-5+ years. If you come out with a 'generalist' bachelors' , and join a big firm in an area that really doesn't require specialized expertise, you are more likely to move around till you find something you like.The best situation (IMO) is to have a job offer in hand from your #2 company when you talk to your #1 company, and make them aware of the fact that you've interviewed with the other company. If they give you an offer, it's likely to be atleast as good as the offer from the #2 company - most large companies know what the typical packages are. So I'd recommend making a list of companies you might want to work at, and try and interview in ascending order of interest/expected pay range.
Edit: As for salary ranges, I know EE's make around 50-60k on average -depending on what you want to work on. I think averages for mechE's are a little lower, so I would expect around 50-55k. But again, averages mean jack sometimes - make sure you talk to people in your field/college about offers. Your career center will often give averages - though they may be skewed as people with high salaries are likely to report them than the lowball offers.
Agreed, a lot of good points about base carrying over and the like. And obviously even a $3k higher base is $15k more over 5 years.
As far as EE's go though, in Dallas (which shouldn't be as high as say California) all of my friends have gotten over $55k, and that's not all high 3's gpa with internships, one with a 2.9 got hired on at a company for $59,200. Another was $56 with a $3k signing bonus and steady raises since. I know a few exceptional candidates that got offered $64ish.
So in my experience and for my area average is $60 and if a company offers me less than $55 I might not even dignify that with a response.
Bottom line, if you feel like you are worth $60k and can make your case, do it. I can tell a company exactly why they should hire me on at $60k, if that doesn't impress them then my skills are better served elsewhere.
True, but you have to be sure you don't burn yourself too badly, if you reject a job paying 55k then not being able to find anything better. Interview with companies higher on your preference list before responding to the offers. Companies often try to pressure you into accepting an offer soon, but your situation is different from someone changing jobs. As someone looking for work after graduation, people will understand that you can't respond to offers immediately, and as you're typically interviewing well in advance of when you join, they won't mind waiting a few weeks more for you to make a decision. Most companies will understand if you tell them " Thanks for your interest, but I'm currently looking to interview at other places too. It it alright if I take x ish weeks to get back to you?" And it they are inflexible enough not to agree, then you might not want to work for them anyway. This ensures you atleast have a job in hand, and can negotiate from a position of strength when you look for a better job.
I think its low
to give you an idea (not exact values but ranges)
I know MechEs being hired between 60-65. I know ChemEs around 70.
But I also know MechEs in the 40-45. Those weren't as high achieving in academia...
If you have an okay GPA (3.3+) and some decent experience (its not that you even did crazy work - the point is you know the work flow at a typical job), I find less than 50K really hard to swallow. make your case and justify why you should get more. Of course make sure its all justified...else that looks bad.
and if you accept a low salary - take it, work your BUTT off, and come 6 month review demand a huge pay hike.
to give you an idea (not exact values but ranges)
I know MechEs being hired between 60-65. I know ChemEs around 70.
But I also know MechEs in the 40-45. Those weren't as high achieving in academia...
If you have an okay GPA (3.3+) and some decent experience (its not that you even did crazy work - the point is you know the work flow at a typical job), I find less than 50K really hard to swallow. make your case and justify why you should get more. Of course make sure its all justified...else that looks bad.
and if you accept a low salary - take it, work your BUTT off, and come 6 month review demand a huge pay hike.
Since your location says Cali, I assume the numbers provided is for Cali jobs.
If so, then you can't really compare these number straight to the rest of the country. 70k in Cali is like 55k elsewhere.
Yes, cost of living is higher in california, but they don't always pay to compensate for that. When I talked to people in my field, pretty much all of them said that the pay mostly depended on the company, rather than location. You would get similar pay whether you worked in the cali division or the austin division. FWIW, my offer in austin paid 5k more than my offer in austin.
To OP, don't compare with the general salary range~ it's way too general. I know people with BS in M.E. have the range of 50k-70k. But your salary should depend on your academic achievement, skills, the living standard of your work location. If you have been interviewing around and get multiple offers, compare those and get an idea about your salary range. There's no template saying that you should get this amount of $$ for your specific major and background; it's only a guide. I say go with a company that you feel has great culture, comfortable work environment, and have lots of career growth opportunity... these factors should be weighted as equal or greater than your starting salary
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